Forestdale students got a visit from a special guest Friday: Doc, the gun-safety owl, and two officers from the state Department of Corrections, for a presentation of what children should do if they find a gun.

"We're here to talk to you about firearm safety and awareness," said Sgt. Peter Brown, who coordinates the "Doc Owl" program for the DOC. He explained to the students that there are more than 200 million guns in the country. "It's because there's that many guns that we're here today."

Brown and his partner, Lt. John Walsh, gave students an interactive presentation on the steps to take if they came across a gun in a playground, on the street or elsewhere - notably, to not touch the gun or allow anyone else to do so, and to inform a trustworthy adult as quickly as possible.

After deputizing all the students, Brown and Walsh brought out Doc Owl to quiz the children on steps they should take if they found a gun.

The event was sponsored by City Councilor Chris Simonelli, who works with the state DOC.

"They do a great job," Simonelli said. "I thought it would be a great idea to bring them here. They've never been to Malden. Hopefully we can get them to the other schools."

Nothing's wrong with it, frankly. I was just amused that they use an owl instead of an eagle.

JW2

April 10, 2003, 09:19 AM

Ahh, gotcha. :)

TallPine

April 10, 2003, 09:56 AM

Copyright infringement ...?

Henry Bowman

April 10, 2003, 10:49 AM

Probably not.

cuchulainn

April 10, 2003, 10:49 AM

TallPine,

Yeah, it might be a trademark infringement (as opposed to copyright), but the NRA would be stupid to sue unless the owl thing was being used to harm the Eddie Eagle program.

As it is, the NRA would just come accross as trying to shut down a gun safety program.

My totally wild guess: The officers doing it wanted Eddie Eagle, but the higher-up politicians didn't want the department associated with the NRA, so this is a compromise.

(And for all we know, the officers ran it by the NRA first and got an OK).

TallPine

April 10, 2003, 11:17 AM

Sorry, I forgot to add the sarcasm alert ...

Camel

April 10, 2003, 01:00 PM

I remember back in the day when I was in elementary school seeing McGruff the crime dog. I was much more impressed by the police officers than by the goofball in the dog suit. I guess I just think a spiffy uniform is more impressive than a costume. Kids arent dumb. They know its just some guy in a costume and guys in costumes arent all that rare. But talking to a real police officer or firemen is about the coolest thing ever.

PS. I still think firemen are cool :D

4v50 Gary

April 10, 2003, 01:04 PM

There must be no bite left in McGruff. Heck, he's been around since the mid '80s. Doc Owl is OK, but Kalashnikitty is better. :D

Steve B

April 10, 2003, 03:06 PM

When my kid was littler, I made sure he knew how to determine if a gun was loaded and how to make it safe. He also knew the rules of safe gun handling. I think that`s just responsible parenting.

See, it IS easier to gun-proof your children than to child-proof your guns.....